SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Welcome to Week 25 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Charity

We had some excellent responses to last week’s prompt. If you have a chance, give Violet, Chris, and Gordon’s posts a read—you won’t regret it!

I groaned when I got the prompt word from the generator. And then my imagination kicked in almost instantly.

Initially, it was a hitman saying the line, “I don’t do charity” to a cruel man who begged him to finish it. But, I decided to push myself and find something else.

Here’s my response to this week’s prompt:

“I’m sorry I’ve not been around much,” Grace said. The clifftop spur of land she’d donated to Kol had transformed into a beautiful escape. She ignored the niggle of jealousy that crept into her thoughts. Kol deserved a nice home. “It’s beautiful.”

Kol joined her on the patio overlooking the cliff edge. “I built it for you.”
Grace almost buckled as all the pieces fell together. Kol was her stalker. Kol had done all those despicable things.

“We can be together now.” He pulled Grace to him, but she yanked out of his grip.

She could reason with him. “I’m flattered, but I don’t think—”

His hand flew across her face. “Another one! Why must all women play hard-to-get?” He pulled a Glock on her.

Grace’s blood ran cold at the sound of Kol cocking the weapon. “Please, Kol, don’t.” She inched ever closer to the edge and the waves crashing below.

“‘Please, Kol, don’t,’” he mocked as he advanced on her.

All charity left her heart, replaced by a hunk of solid ice. Petr’s training sprung to her mind: turn your fear into anger, channel it, use it against the son-of-a-bitch.

Grace let Kol get closer, then grabbed his arm, twisted, and used his own weight to throw him over her shoulder.

It worked too well.

Kol clung to the cliff edge with his fingertips. Grace stared down at the man who’d tried to kill her. At the fingers that were so close to her feet.

Thanks for reading and have a fantastical weekend.

HOW TO JOIN IN

1. Using the prompt, write a maximum of 250 words of fiction. (This can be a scene, flash fiction, some dialogue, a description, etc.)
2. Link to this post in your post.
3. Add the tags ffwc, genre scribes, and the genre your post is in.
4. The deadline is 6 PM the following Friday.